Date/Time
Thursday
16 Feb 2023
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Location
470 Stephens Hall

Event Type
Colloquium

Elizabeth Reddy
Assistant Professor of Engineering, Design, & Society at Colorado School of Mines

The Sistema de Alerta Sísmica Mexicano is the world’s oldest public earthquake early warning system.  This talk on the author’s new book, ¡Alerta! (forthcoming in 2023 MIT Press), draws on ethnographic and archival research to analyze how SASMEX and related Mexican efforts have sought to change relationships between the environment, society, and technology. This talk will consider the development and deployment of this ambitious work in the context of ongoing, everyday life and geological movements in Mexico. Through interrogating life with earthquakes and warnings,  I open up questions about social and political practices related to high-stakes techno-optimism and about the disciplinary structures of risk mitigation, and invite discussion about the practices of engaged STS in this context.